BONUS COMIC: Garden Retrospective by Ripley LaCross (Pledge Drive '25)

Ripley LaCross delivers a visual delight in today's retrospective comic. A well tended garden, of growth, failures and all. It's a soft and powerful one, and I love how it stands in a contrast to Ripley's Pledge Drive Comic from last year.

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Pledge Drive Exclusives - Links Page

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Pages are bellow posted in a stacked order, with the transcription beneath that!

Transcript

Today’s 2025 Pledge Drive exclusive comic is drawn by Ripley laCross, in a dark green palette with a watercolor texture and finish to each beautifully rendered panel. Throughout the comic, modern-day Ripley is shown wearing an open shirt, summer shorts, a black belt, and a wide summer hat, under which they wear some glasses and a small collar chain.

Page 1

Opens up with Ripley in the middle of the garden, an archway trellis stands proud with growing vines creeping up it, and to the side, knee-high grow boxes with bare soil and small tags standing in the dirt. In the middle, Ripley holds a sprinkler as they look around.

Ripley Narration

'For the first time in my life, I have a full garden of my own.

And the freedom to do whatever I like in it.'

The camera pans in close to those little tags sticking out of the ground

Ripley

'… Why won’t you guys grow?'

Ripley kneels down and, head in hand, pokes at the soil with a resigned look. Behind them, we see some more of that lovely garden.

Narration

'There are years of experience under these fingernails.'

Ripley is addressing their plants

'The other beds are doing just fine… What gives?'

Narration

'And yet these things still happen.'

Page 2

We see young Ripley skipping across the page holding a rake

Narration

'Many of my summers as a kid were spent planting seeds and pulling weeds in the family garden. I was always eager to help.'

Ripley is raking out of bed, looking at the camera, saying 'I’m helping'

Narration

'Sometimes too eager.'

Narration

'Things weren’t always great, or even good, back then. But that garden was a source of pride.'

In an abundance of foliage, we see young Ripley smiling and having a moment with their mother, both collecting and enjoying their time in the garden, a small pop-up narration sits next to the illustration in brackets

Narration

'I credited this for my love of veggies, even as a kid.'

'Hard work transformed, infertile, clay-riden soil into rich, black gold that in time grew nutrient-dense foods to sustain us through the bad times.'

We see Ripley’s older glove, hands, gently touch a photo book of their younger self sitting in the garden, as older Ripley looks on with retrospection.

Narration

'The dirt on my young hands sprouted the deep understanding that the ability to grow my own food was within my power.

And I never let go of that.'

Page 3

We’re now inside looking at Ripley’s potted plants, sitting next to a window, the date 2009 floats next to what I assume is a tomato plant

Narration

'But sustenance doesn’t just spring from the earth unbidden. You must first plant a seed. And that seed must be nurtured. My first gardens were a demonstration of passion, but I was still woefully ignorant.'

We see Ripley‘s next garden in 2016, a T-shirt-clad Ripley sits in a slightly more claustrophobic space, resembling something like an apartment balcony. Surrounded by vegetation, each little interesting plant is called out with an arrow as Ripley sits and scribbles away

Arrow one

'The grainiest tomatoes I’ve ever eaten.'

Arrow two

'Mostly leaves, few snap peas.'

Arrow three'Produced just three tiny peppers.'

Arrow four

'Garlic alludes me.'

Arrow five

'Unsuccessful cardboard box potatoes.'

Floating above this stunning panel is narration, followed by this middle aged Ripley, looking directly at us with a little bit of commentary.

Narration

'Turning nothing into something requires a lot of somethings. Light. Nutrients. Water. Soil. Patience…'

Middle-aged Ripley chimes in

'… And much to my dismay, money!'

Narration

'But I love learning as much as pennypinching, so I kept digging.'

Page 4

We are shown a wide panel of collected, rescued items and plants, everything is scuffed or cracked, with little ragged edges. Just as before, different items are called out with little arrows, pointing to each one of them.

Narration

'Every job was an opportunity for free garden stuff'

Arrow one

'Triage grocery store starts.'

Arrow two

'Wine crates.'

Arrow three

'Last year’s seeds'

Arrow four

'Cracked drugstore pots.'

Arrow five

'Floral department rescue rescues'

Narration

'Landing a covered garden center gig was the windfall I needed'

We’re now with an older, near-current-day Ripley working at the garden store sprinkling large tubed plants that have their own arrows.

Narration

'Hands-on learning and paid workshops filled my brain, while torn bags of compost and fertilizer filled my pockets.'

Arrow one

'Believe it, or not, not every rose has its thorn, summer thornless!'

Arrow two

'There’s a variety of blueberry called pink lemonade with you, guessed it, pink berries!'

Arrow three

'Did you know ladybugs eat aphids? And you can buy them by the thousands in ice cream tubs??'

The camera zooms in on Ripley’s hand, gently stroking a leaf

Narration

'But it’s not like my dream garden sprouted overnight.

Every failure and every success grew up upon the last like tendrils of a vine… Weaving a tightly knit, trellis of love, labor, and luck that gives me the support I need to try, try again.'

Page 5

We’re back with modern-day Ripley, looking at their grow box of dirt, and failed starts

Narration

'So, when faced with a setback, I’ve got that entire network of vines to fall into. The flowers of luck whisper sweet nothings of grandiose harvests, while grounding me with the roots of pragmatic wisdom.'

We see the labels for the starts being tossed onto the ground

Narration

'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst

This is my life motto.'

A rake pulls through the soil, breaking the panel border, and blending artfully into clouds for the next panel.

We see Ripley standing tall, wiping the sweat off their brow as they close out the comic, amidst their grow boxes and garden.

Narration

'It means it’s cool to have high expectations, just have a backup plan, you know?Failure is a part of life, that’s how we grow.'

Ripley 

'Let’s try this again, shall we?'

Narration

'And I intend to keep growing.'

Today's comic was drawn by Ripley LaCross, and then transcribed by Matthew Nolan on 6/9(nice)/25